Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) lived through two world wars and a time as turbulent as any in British history. Yet although his Fifth Symphony was largely composed during the Second World War, it includes some of his most tranquil music, its pastoral serenity set vividly against the backdrop of war-torn Europe. The Seventh Symphony, Sinfonia antartica, began life as the score for the film Scott of the Antarctic, the themes of which – human endeavour, stoicism, and courage – hugely moved and inspired the composer. Scott and his men may have perished, but their spirit lives on in Vaughan Williams’s original and atmospheric music.